Penn State Hazing Death Shows How You Can Get Charged With Manslaughter

Penn State's Beta Theta Pi fraternity put Timothy Piazza through "The Gauntlet," which involved drinking beer and vodka heavily, and he did not survive. (Photo: Shutterstock)

It all seems like fun and games until someone dies and you get charged with manslaughter. Yesterday, a grand jury charged 18 members of Penn State's Beta Theta Pi fraternity with the hazing death of Timothy Piazza...including eight members with involuntary manslaughter. The details of the testimonies highlighted how hazing continues to be a major health risk on campuses and the many mistakes that fraternity brothers made in treating a person who needed real medical attention.

Here's a previous CBS report when the death was initially considered "an accident":

But since then more details have emerged to suggest that the death may not have been quite so "accidental." A rather sophisticated video surveillance system in the Beta Theta Pi house (who, exactly, is financing this fraternity?) helped provide some of the following details from the grand jury report of what allegedly happened February 2nd in Happy Valley (the listed events below were based on an account of the events written by Mike Deak for the USA Today network):

Mistake #1: Holding the hazing ritual.

The report from the National Study of Student Hazing, "Hazing in View: Students at Risk," by Dr. Elizabeth Allan and Dr. Mary Madden, showed how common hazing is on college campuses with more than half of college students being involved in some form of hazing but 95% not reporting it. And we aren't talking about the "getting people to recite the alphabet backwards trying to name as many movie quotes as possible" type of hazing. Many of these hazing rituals are humiliating and dangerous. Since 1970, at least one college hazing-related death has occurred each year, with 82% involving alcohol. The study also found that over 70% of fraternity and sorority members experienced hazing. (Interestingly, 20% to 30% of academic or honors society members also underwent hazing.) Why some have the need to humiliate or hurt others is beyond me.

Reports are that Piazza's blood alcohol level reached at least 0.28% to 0.36%, or about four times the legal limit. According to reports, videos showed that at 9:21 p.m., Piazza was ready to run "the gauntlet," which included drinking vodka and beer, and then a little over an hour later, video showed him "severely staggering drunkenly toward the basement steps." Drinking heavily anywhere near steps is a bad, bad idea.

Here's the district attorney's description of what happened:

Alleged Mistake #3: Slapping the face of someone who may have fallen down the stairs.

Eventually, according to reports, four fraternity brothers found his body at the bottom of the stairs, carried him back upstairs, poured some liquid on him and slapped him in the face. This is not something you see EMTs (emergency medical technicians) or lifeguards do...even on Baywatch. Pouring liquids on a drunk person, whose normal defenses may be impaired, could actually result in the person choking or drowning. Slapping someone in the face (even gently) or moving him without appropriate precautions could worsen any neck or head injury. If you find someone at the bottom of a set of stairs, unconscious, don't try to move him yourself and instead call for medical help (e.g., 911).

Alleged Mistake #4: Placing a backpack filled with textbooks on someone to prevent suffocation from his own vomit.

This is also not a standard medical procedure. In fact, few situations call for putting a backpack full of textbooks on someone. If you are worried that someone may choke on his or her vomit, position the person so that the vomit can flow out of that person's mouth, watch the person carefully, and call for help.

Alleged Mistake #5: Tackling one another and landing on top of someone who was heavily intoxicated and may have fallen down the stairs.

No comment needed here.

Alleged Mistake #6: Picking someone up and slamming him back on the couch...after he was heavily intoxicated and may have fallen down the stairs.

Ditto from #5.

Alleged Mistake #7: Shoving into a wall someone who wanted to get a person medical help.

Based on reports, one fraternity member argued that Piazza needed medical help. The other fraternity brothers disagreed and introduced him to a wall.

Alleged Mistake #8: Claiming that since they were college biology and kinesiology majors, they knew more than the fraternity member who wanted to get medical help.

No, as a college biology or kinesiology major, you do not know medicine. You may know how to spell biology and kinesiology, but you do not know what it takes medical professionals years to learn and understand. Now that they need legal help, maybe they can get a college legal studies or history major to help.

Alleged Mistake #9: Not watching and protecting a person and the person's head...after he was heavily intoxicated and may have fallen down the stairs.

According to the grand jury report, Piazza fell again and hit his head on the wooden floor around 3:20 a.m. and fell onto a stone floor at 5 a.m. Meanwhile, no one was paying close attention to Piazza, with a fraternity member even walking over Piazza to get a drink.

According to the jurors, around 10 a.m., other fraternity brothers found Piazza in the basement as follows: “Timothy was lying on his back with his arms clenched tight at his sides and his hands in the air. His chest was bare, his breathing heavy and he had blood on his face.” The grand jury report added that his skin was cold to the touch and pale. Then as the USA Today reported:

During the next 42 minutes, fraternity brothers shook him, tried to prop him up, covered him with a blanket, wiped his face and tried to dress him but were unsuccessful "due to the stiffness of Timothy's body."

Again, this is not standard emergency care protocol. When someone is pale, cold to touch...and for goodness' sake, stiff...that's a medical emergency.

As reported in USA Today, one fraternity brother's cell phone showed that during the 42 minutes he was doing Internet searches for "falling asleep after head injury," "cold extremities in drunk person" and "binge drinking, alcohol, bruising or discoloration, cold feet and cold hands."

On February 4, Piazza was pronounced dead at 1:20 a.m. Here's a CBS Philly report on the charges:

Based on these accounts, there were multiple times that Piazza could have possibly been saved, but in each situation the Beta Theta Pi fraternity brothers didn't seem to take the situation seriously enough. Hazing is not fun, and it is not a game. Now everyone who may have been involved in Piazza's death is learning how serious it is.

I’ve been in the worlds of business, medicine, and global and public health. And these worlds are a lot more similar and different than you think. Currently, I am an Associate Professor of International Health at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, Executiv...